Growth Mindset

I was quite amazed by Carol Dweck's ideology after viewing her videos. I had never heard of Carol Dweck or her ideology before. It was only until I came across her videos, to complete an assignment for Epics of India at OU, that I realized how important it is in the modern-day world for children to grow up believing that they are able to accomplish anything. In my schoolwork, I would like to be given a challenge so that I am able to work at the challenge by learning from it and then overcome it. This in turn would help me in the future if another challenge were to arise. In my hobbies, such as painting and drawing, challenges should be encouraged. I tend to draw and paint items that I know how to, when in reality, I should be trying to broaden my view by drawing and painting items that are new to me. More challenging concepts and ideas should be of use to me because if I fail once, the next time may not be so bad the next time.

Dweck's Growth Mindest Chart (Source: Brainpickings)

While I have been at OU, what I have learned from my own learning and that of others is that we strive for easy classes. This is mainly because society wants grades and GPAs to be at the top and does not stress the importance of learning or absorbing materials. It does not matter to society that people do not understand the concepts. People will find all sorts of ways to make good grades. This includes online study resources, solely taking online courses so that textbooks and the internet is accessible, and countless other ways. This is a big problem because students are just simply memorizing information and not truly learning and understanding. I believe that the only way students are going to learn is if they are "pushed" to learn which in turn will make them succeed.

I would love to learn more about the Dweck's growth mindset this semester. One personal learning goal for this semester is to change my old ways and utilize this ideology to make new habits. I am excited about this, Epics of India, class because I have heard from so many people that this class was so much fun and interesting. One class I am worried about is my Introduction to Personality course because it seems very hard. After watching these videos, I believe that I just needed a push in order to succeed in the class.